Injectable dexamethasone-loaded peptide hydrogel for therapy of radiation-induced ototoxicity by regulating the mTOR signaling pathway.

Radiation-induced ototoxicity is associated with inflammation response and excessive reactive oxygen species in the cochlea. However, the effectiveness of many drugs in clinical settings is limited due to anatomical barriers in the inner ear and pharmacokinetic instability. To address this issue, we developed an injectable hydrogel called RADA-HRN-dexamethasone (RHD).

Development of a standalone delivery sequence model for proton arc therapy.

Background: Spot-scanning proton arc (SPArc) has been drawing significant interests in recent years because of its capability of continuous proton irradiation during the gantry rotation. Previous studies demonstrated SPArc plans were delivered on a prototype of the DynamicARC solution, IBA ProteusONE.

Purpose: We built a novel delivery sequence model through an independent experimental approach: the first SPArc delivery sequence model (DSM).

SHC4 orchestrates β-catenin pathway-mediated metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer by promoting Src kinase autophosphorylation.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is highly aggressive and metastatic, and has the poorest prognosis among all breast cancer subtypes. Activated β-catenin is enriched in TNBC and involved in Wnt signaling-independent metastasis. However, the underlying mechanisms of β-catenin activation in TNBC remain unknown.

A novel planning framework for efficient spot-scanning proton arc therapy via particle swarm optimization (SPArc-).

Delivery efficiency is the bottleneck of spot-scanning proton arc therapy (SPArc) because of the numerous energy layers (ELs) ascending switches. This study aims to develop a new algorithm to mitigate the need for EL ascending via water equivalent thickness (WET) sector selection followed by particle swarm optimization (SPArc-).SPArc-divided the full arc trajectory into the optimal sectors based on K-means clustering analysis of the relative mean WET.

Clinical Features, Outcomes, and Response to Corticosteroid Treatment of Acute Tubulointerstitial Nephritis: A Single-Centre Retrospective Cohort Study in the Czech Republic.

Introduction: Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (ATIN) is a well-recognized cause of acute kidney injury (AKI) due to the tubulointerstitial inflammation. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical features, outcomes, and responses to corticosteroid treatment in patients with ATIN.

Methods: Patients with biopsy-proven ATIN, who were diagnosed between 1994 and 2016 at the Department of Nephrology, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine, and General University Hospital in Prague, were included in the study.

The role of BATF2 deficiency in immune microenvironment rearrangement in cervical cancer - New biomarker benefiting from combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy.

Despite the significant progress in immunotherapy for certain cancers, including cervical cancer, most patients remain unresponsive or derive limited benefits from combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The factors underlying treatment resistance are unknown and there are few reliable predictive biomarkers. BATF2 is a member of the basic leucine zipper transcription factor family and is involved in immune response and immune cell development.

The association between the neuroendocrine system and the tumor immune microenvironment: Emerging directions for cancer immunotherapy.

This review summarizes emerging evidence that the neuroendocrine system is involved in the regulation of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) to influence cancer progression. The basis of the interaction between the neuroendocrine system and cancer is usually achieved by the infiltration of nerve fibers into the tumor tissue, which is called neurogenesis; the migration of cancer cells toward nerve fibers, which is called perineural invasion (PNI), and the neurotransmitters. In addition to the traditional role of neurotransmitters in neural communications, neurotransmitters are increasingly recognized as mediators of crosstalk between the nervous system, cancer cells, and the immune system.

Tumor-associated microbiota in colorectal cancer with vascular tumor thrombus and neural invasion and association with clinical prognosis.

Neural invasion (NI) and vascular tumor thrombus (VT) are associated with poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, we apply 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues in patients with CRC to determine the microbial differences. A discovery cohort, including 30 patients with NI, 23 with VT, and 35 with double-negative CRC tissue, is utilized.

Proton Therapy for Advanced Juvenile Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma.

Purpose: To provide the first report on proton radiotherapy (PRT) in the management of advanced nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) and evaluate potential benefits compared to conformal photon therapy (XRT).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 10 consecutive patients undergoing PRT for advanced JNA in a definitive or postoperative setting with a relative biological effectiveness weighted dose of 45 Gy in 25 fractions between 2012 and 2022 at the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center. Furthermore, dosimetric comparisons and risk estimations for short- and long-term radiation-induced complications between PRT plans and helical XRT plans were conducted.

Radiotherapy and long-term sequelae in pediatric patients with parameningeal rhabdomyosarcoma: Results of two Cooperative Weichteilsarkom Studiengruppe (CWS) trials and one registry.

Background: Parameningeal location of rhabdomyosarcoma (PM RMS) is known to be an unfavorable prognostic factor. Scarce data are available on radiotherapy (RT) concepts with regard to outcome.

Methods: Treatment and outcome of 395 children with PM RMS registered within two Cooperative Weichteilsarkom Studiengruppe (CWS) trials and one registry (1995-2021) were evaluated.

In Search of the Perfect Thrombosis and Bleeding-Associated Cancer Scale.

Thrombosis and bleeding are commonly observed in cancer patients, and their management is crucial for positive patient outcomes. A comprehensive, prophylactic, and therapeutic management of venous thrombosis should focus on identifying the patients who would benefit most from treatment to reduce mortality and minimize the risk of thrombosis recurrence without significantly increasing the risk of bleeding. Existing cancer scales provide valuable information for assessing the overall burden of cancer and guiding treatment decisions, but their ability to predict thrombotic and bleeding events remains limited.

Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibition sensitizes radiotherapy by promoting T cell infiltration.

Radiotherapy could regulate systemic antitumor immunity, while the immune state in the tumor microenvironment (TME) also affects the efficacy of radiotherapy. We have found that higher CD8 T cell infiltration is associated with longer overall survival of lung adenocarcinoma and melanoma patients receiving radiotherapy. 8-Gray radiation increased the transcriptional levels of chemokines in tumor cells .

Exosomal Linc00969 induces trastuzumab resistance in breast cancer by increasing HER-2 protein expression and mRNA stability by binding to HUR.

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant disease in female patients worldwide. In HER-2+ BC patients, trastuzumab therapy is associated with a better prognosis. However, many HER-2+ BC patients experience recurrence or metastasis because of trastuzumab resistance.

Development and benchmarking of a dose rate engine for raster-scanned FLASH helium ions.

Background: Radiotherapy with charged particles at high dose and ultra-high dose rate (uHDR) is a promising technique to further increase the therapeutic index of patient treatments. Dose rate is a key quantity to predict the so-called FLASH effect at uHDR settings. However, recent works introduced varying calculation models to report dose rate, which is susceptible to the delivery method, scanning path (in active beam delivery) and beam intensity.

Modulation of HIV-1 capsid multimerization by sennoside A and sennoside B via interaction with the NTD/CTD interface in capsid hexamer.

Small molecules that bind to the pocket targeted by a peptide, termed capsid assembly inhibitor (CAI), have shown antiviral effects with unique mechanisms of action. We report the discovery of two natural compounds, sennoside A (SA) and sennoside B (SB), derived from medicinal plants that bind to this pocket in the C-terminal domain of capsid (CA CTD). Both SA and SB were identified via a drug-screening campaign that utilized a time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer assay.

Comparative evaluation of a surface-based respiratory monitoring system against a pressure sensor for 4DCT image reconstruction in phantoms.

Four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT), which relies on breathing-induced motion, requires realistic surrogate information of breathing variations to reconstruct the tumor trajectory and motion variability of normal tissues accurately. Therefore, the SimRT surface-guided respiratory monitoring system has been installed on a Siemens CT scanner. This work evaluated the temporal and spatial accuracy of SimRT versus our commonly used pressure sensor, AZ-733 V.

Re-irradiation in clinical practice: Results of an international patterns of care survey within the framework of the ESTRO-EORTC E-RADIatE platform.

Background: Re-irradiation is an increasingly utilized treatment for recurrent, metastatic or new malignancies after previous radiotherapy. It is unclear how re-irradiation is applied in clinical practice. We aimed to investigate the patterns of care of re-irradiation internationally.

Comparison and evaluation of different deep learning models of synthetic CT generation from CBCT for nasopharynx cancer adaptive proton therapy.

Background: Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scanning is used for patient setup in image-guided radiotherapy. However, its inaccurate CT numbers limit its applicability in dose calculation and treatment planning.

Purpose: This study compares four deep learning methods for generating synthetic CT (sCT) to determine which method is more appropriate and offers potential for further clinical exploration in adaptive proton therapy for nasopharynx cancer.

The first investigation of spot-scanning proton arc (SPArc) delivery time and accuracy with different delivery tolerance window settings.

. To investigate the impact of various delivery tolerance window settings on the treatment delivery time and dosimetric accuracy of spot-scanning proton arc (SPArc) therapy..

Development and validation of MonteRay, a fast Monte Carlo dose engine for carbon ion beam radiotherapy.

Background: Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are considered the gold-standard for accuracy in radiotherapy dose calculation; so far however, no commercial treatment planning system (TPS) provides a fast MC for supporting clinical practice in carbon ion therapy.

Purpose: To extend and validate the in-house developed fast MC dose engine MonteRay for carbon ion therapy, including physical and biological dose calculation.

Methods: MonteRay is a CPU MC dose calculation engine written in C++ that is capable of simulating therapeutic proton, helium and carbon ion beams.